North Korea expands list of crimes punishable by death: report

North Korea is expanding its list of crimes punishable by death, according to reports.

Supreme leader Kim Jong Un’s regime expanded the list of offenses warranting the death penalty from 11 to 16 via revisions of criminal law, according to Yonhap News Agency.

New offenses warranting execution as a punishment include: anti-state propaganda and agitation acts, illegal manufacturing, and the illicit use of weapons are included in the new codes. 

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The legal modifications were codified via multiple amendments between May 2022 and December 2023, according to a report from the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU). 

North Korea’s implementation of the death penalty has long concerned human rights groups. Due to the hermetic nature of the country, it is practically impossible to discern statistics on its use, but defectors have offered testimony to the frequency of harsh punishments.

In 2020, a law was passed making the consumption and distribution of South Korean media punishable by death for its “reactionary” and “counter-revolutionary” associations.

Other “reactionary” behavior that warrants punishment reportedly includes the wearing of outside fashion such as white wedding dresses, blue jeans or sunglasses. Outside slang terms from South Korea are also allegedly banned in written communications.

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Outside the death penalty, other drastic punishments for behavior deemed anti-social includes prison camps and forced re-education.

The tightening of the criminal code is intended to strengthen the Kim regime’s grip on the population through its continued monopolization of the marketplace and military. 

Earlier this month, North Korea promised to refine its weapons development and strengthen its nuclear capabilities.

Kim Jong Un made the comments at a state event celebrating the country’s 76th anniversary.

“The obvious conclusion is that the nuclear force of the DPRK and the posture capable of properly using it for ensuring the state’s right to security in any time should be more thoroughly perfected,” the dictator said.

“DPRK” is an abbreviation for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

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Kim Jong Un warned that the United States’ increased involvement in the region has forced the regime to pursue more powerful weapons as a deterrence mechanism.

“The DPRK will steadily strengthen its nuclear force capable of fully coping with any threatening acts imposed by its nuclear-armed rival states and redouble its measures and efforts to make all the armed forces of the state, including the nuclear force, fully ready for combat,” the supreme leader said.

The 14th Supreme People’s Assembly, the unicameral legislative body of the country, amended the national constitution last year to enshrine nuclear weaponization as a core principle.